


Cherry Blossom and Sake (My Crazy New Year's Eve)

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Get ready for an unhappy ending, Kind of like Spirited Away, M/M, Stiles has a different name, Young! Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 10:56:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1776616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are three things Derek should NOT do but did anyway on New Year’s Day. 1: Enter a Shinto shrine that was actually an entrance to the Spirit Realm and get spirited away.  2: Agree to be a fox boy’s date to the Spirit Realm’s New Year’s Festival. And 3: It was something he couldn’t remember. What was it again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cherry Blossom and Sake (My Crazy New Year's Eve)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not Teen Wolf. Therefore Sterek ain't canon. 
> 
> Any mistakes in this work is mine seeing as how I don't have a beta. 
> 
> Get ready to enjoy a fifteen-year-old Derek Hale and a Kitsunebi! Stiles.

It is New Year’s when Derek loses his first kiss to a sort of Japanese fox spirit. There were weirder ways to lose your first kiss. You grandma, that creepy girl in kindergarten, that creep over there … yeah … Derek considered himself quite lucky on that one.

Derek Hale strolls through the forest, no particular destination, the loud rowdiness of his family house in Beacon Hills behind as he strayed further into the woods. He’s fifteen, he’s moved into his moody, constantly angry, antisocial teenager phase ( _with a charming permanent constipated look on your face, Derek!_ Uncle Peter affectionately told him when he asked Derek to do a job for him and Derek grunted in response).  He’s knows it’s not his fault. It’s the hormones in his body that makes him act this way. He’s getting into more fights, family more often than normal teenagers.

He’s not happy about the whole New Year’s family reunion they’re having at the moment. It means actual interaction with actual people and the thought of that makes Derek want to walk straight out of the front door. He knows he’s hurting people with his attitude but he seriously doesn’t know the reason he was pissed as a cat (and he doesn’t like cats) other than puberty.

Derek senses something different in the air, getting stronger with each step he took and the more he ventured in the woods. He knows these woods, they were like a second home to him and he knew it like the back of his hands but he doesn’t know where he is and he’s never been to this part of the forest before.  

He can’t hear the familiar rush of the stream or his family or even the animals. All he can hear is approaching rain which falls on him a spilt second later. Derek curses and moves to take shelter somewhere or go back home and realizes he’s lost.

From somewhere in the darkness, he can hear a bell chime in the distance. The rain seeps into his skin through his clothes and he knows he’s going to catch a cold. The wind picks up and the bell chimes again. Derek follows the source of the sound, using his sharpened senses to guide him.

He slips out of the foliage into a clearing somewhere in the woods. Clearly, through the rain, Derek sees a part of the forest he never knew existed. Ahead is a wood-lined path between orange and black wooden beams connected by another beam and another plank of wood underneath. Derek doesn’t hesitate. If it leads him to shelter, he’ll take it. As he passes through, he notes that there are Japanese characters written on the gates. 

And it does lead him somewhere. It leads him up stone stairs (not fun and very slippery). The wood under his feet turn into stone and there’s a Shinto shrine just in front of him, exactly like the one he would see in anime or manga books. The thickness in the air is now incredibly heavy and there’s a small voice in Derek’s head telling him to turn around and go back home. Derek entertains the voice for a while …

And doesn’t listen to it. Instead, he walks past the two stone foxes sitting on stone pillars that are soaked by rain and enters the shrine.

Inside, it’s cool and dry and he thanks God because it’s actually warm inside. It covered in a layer of dust (Derek sneezes from this) and looks as though it hadn’t been used for a while. He walks inside for a while. It’s empty, lifeless but there’s something strange about it, and when he’s had enough, he notes that the rain stopped raining outside.

He heads back outside to see that _everything_ had changed. Inside of the orange and black arches and stone steps, there is just a single bridge over a cool stream of water, pink petals flowing with the water as well. He wonders if he taken another door and knows he came inside the shrine through this door. What the hell? Dazed and confused, he walks across to the bridge. It was another traditional Japanese design, red and antique.

Derek inhales the air. The smell of the forest, the pine trees and the Hale wolf pack didn’t hang in the air as it always constantly does. The air smelled different … like cherry blossoms and alcohol and other stuff Derek couldn’t put his finger on. There was a tendril of panic in his chest but he managed to cool it down and decides to cross the bridge.

(That was not the wisest decision of his adolescent life to make.)

There was a road, sided by full pink cherry blossom trees in full bloom, beautifully lit by the night sky, completely empty. On the side of the path, he could see an old woman who resembles a shrivelled-up mummy wearing a robe of sorts collapsed on the ground. His chivalrous knightly side kicked in–it had been absent for some time –and Derek rushes over to the old woman.

“Ohhhhh …” she crooned in an odd wheezing voice. Derek assists the woman in getting up. To Derek, she smells … _inhuman_. But Derek thinks it impossible. The only non-humans in Beacon Hills were his pack.

“Are you alright ma’am?” Derek asks warily.

She gives him this maniacal smile which creeps him out … like a _lot_. There was an uneasiness building up his chest. “Yess, thank you _veeerryyy_ much, young man.” She puts her hand on Derek’s cheek and Derek can feel claws digging into his skin. “Say, aren’t a long way from home, little wolf?”

The fact that she knows he’s a werewolf –and she’s creepy, very, very creepy –has Derek backing away warily. “Um … you could say that. If you just point me in the direction of Beacon Hills, it’d be great …”

“Oh, little woollff,” she drawls viciously for some unknown reason. “The walls between the realms are weak but they’re not going to weaken strongly enough for you for a while.”

“Wait, what?” Derek said confused. “What do you mean?”

“It’s been a while …” she says quietly. There was a flash of silver in her hand and Derek instantly recognizes it as a knife –a kitchen knife! “SINCE I’VE FED ON CHILDREN!”

The crazy old lady lunged at him. Derek’s werewolf side kicks in quickly and he reacts instantly, dodging her knife by moving to the side, however he hadn’t anticipated her claws to come out and push him downwards and Derek hit the ground (and his head) quite hard. Derek can barely register that the crazy old lady is about to kill him and raises her threating kitchen knife down on him and –

A small ball of orangey red fire slammed into the crazy old lady, throwing her to the side. She wailed, hitting the trunk of one of the cherry blossom trees. There’s a nasty burn on the side of the face. A blur follows –whitish, yellow-ish and brown-ish –descending on the crazy lady and grabs the woman by her kimono and throws her around like she’s a toy.

It’s a boy. He has dark hair from what Derek could tell but there is a white mask looking a lot like a fox’s face covering his features so he couldn’t tell what he looked like. He’s also wearing a robe which Derek can remember is a Japanese –again? There’s a theme going here – _yukata_. It’s a straw yellow with little crescent moon patterns cut in it. In his palm was a ball of fire that he was ready to lob.

“Isn’t it a little early to be killing children already, _onibaba_?” the fox boy asks in a playful tone.

“This doesn’t concern you, _kitsune_!” the crazy old murderous freak monster lady yowled angrily and gets off the ground, lunging towards his.

In his response, the fireball in the boy’s hand intensifies and grows dangerously. He throws it like a baseball, hitting the old lady straight in the face. It scorches all over her and all that’s left is roasted old lady lying limply on the dirt.

“W-What the hell was that?”  Derek manages to speak at last, shocked and possibly scared. Not that he would _ever_ admit it. He looks from the old lady and the fox boy.

“An _onibaba_ ,” Fox boy explains plainly. He kneels beside Derek, checking for injuries. He’s fine … or at least he looks so. The fox boy continues, “She’s a Japanese _yōkai_ who has an acquired taste for children. Though I don’t know what she sees in you. You smell like a mangy mutt who hasn’t had a shower for a while.”

Derek glares at fox boy. He resists the urge to slam him into the nearest tree and demands answers. The fox boy laughs at his expression and helps him up.

“Where am I?” Derek inquires, checking his surroundings. The fox boy starts strolling down the path and Derek keeps to his side. This boy was most likely his way of getting home, much to Derek’s disdain. The fox boy whistled under his mask, appearing to not have heard Derek. “Hey,” he says sharply. “I said –”

“Yeah, yeah,” Fox boy cuts him off, waving his hand. “I heard you the first time. Don’t get your fur in a knot, Wolfie.”

Derek growls in his best threatening growl he could muster up at the moment. The fox boy also waves that off.

“It’s Derek,” he states evenly and coolly. “My name is Derek Hale.”

“You shouldn’t give your name so freely to strangers, especially considering where you are right now, Derek Hale. There are demons of all sorts who could curse and manipulate you with knowledge like that,” he tells Derek. He sounds like grown-ups when they’re giving a child a big responsibility or something important. “Oh, I don’t really have a name as of yet so you can call me Nanashi for now.”

“Nanashi?” Derek repeats to himself. Why would he say he doesn’t have a name and then give his name to Derek. Unless it was fake. Which was most likely.

They come up to a pair of gates. There is a pair of sliding door also standing in front of them with brushed painted pictures of all sorts of menacing demons having a party of sorts, running a barrier of orange bricks in a circular shape, cutting them off from whatever was inside. He could hear yelling, cursing, several languages spoken at once and more noise than a football game could make even without his super keen werewolf senses.

“The _komainu_ –the gate guardians –are willing to let me in,” Nanashi informs Derek, pointing to the two lions eyeing them sourly at the top of the walls who are the biggest lions Derek has ever seen in his life. “It’s New Year’s Eve in the Spirit Realm –”

Spirit Realm? Derek whips his eyes to fox boy in disbelief. “The _what?_ ”

Fox boy, completely cool and collected, says, “The Spirit Realm. You’re in the Spirit Realm, Wolfie. I’m not lying –” Derek could sense that –“This is a world full of witches, demons, _yōkai_ , _oni_ and otherworldly stuff that’s parallel to the human realm.”

Derek paces madly on the spot, sweating madly, not able to comprehend his current situation. “The Spirit Realm?!” he barks hysterically. “Are you saying I’m in another world?!”

Sensing his distress, the fox boy nods solemnly and says, “Yes. Yes, you are. You must’ve come through a portal that was active by the thinning of the walls between the realms and _accidently_ come through. You didn’t notice a strange Shinto shrine that wasn’t there before by chance?”

“Yeah …” Derek mumbles. He rakes a hand through his hair and the fox boy rubs his back, trying to comfort the werewolf.

“Do you have a family to go home to?” Nanashi asks, his voice gentle and tender unlike his previous tones. Derek nods. “I bet your family must have been in a big gathering for New Year’s right?”

“Y-Yeah,” Derek answers, numbly, recalling all his family’s faces in his minds. He vaguely remembers the term ‘You don’t miss what you have until you lose it’. There is a high possible chance that he’ll never see his family again if he’s trapped in the Spirit Realm. He’ll never suffer through his uncle’s teasing, bear Laura’s annoying older sister-ness, eat –or rather devour –his mother’s famous chocolate cakes, go on hunting trips with his father … He’s in another world and they are separated. “The l-last thing I ever did with them was brush them off. I was acting like a complete jerk –and –and –”

Nanashi squeezes Derek’s hand, oddly fitting there. He’s close enough that Derek can smell the _sakura_ blossoms on him and the hint of alcohol he could get drunk on.

“Don’t worry,” Nanashi promises, “At daybreak, the route you took here could be active again and you can just take it home like one of your human buses. You’ll get back to your pack, Wolfie.”

“What about you?” Derek’s voice is thick. He’s nearly crying and he berates himself. “What about you? Don’t you have a family to go home to?”

Nanashi looks away immediately as if the sight of Derek burns him. He lifts the mask off his face. From the side, Derek could make out big, round brown eyes flecked with silver and his pupils were slit. When he turns his head and Derek got a clear look of his face, he sucked in a breath. Gentle, childish features that had a mole on the side of his cheek –he finds the dark dot near his right eye extremely attractive – and given time he would grow go into a sexy, slender beauty. He couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen.  

“No. Not anymore.” Derek feels an immediate need to scent Nanashi, to mark him as his, to … “You’re staring and blushing at the same time. Are you alright?”

“What?!” Derek squeals uncharacteristically. “I-I’m fine!”

There is a loud roar from above and they both glance up to see that the gate guardians were growing very impatient with the two boys. They were almost ready to tear them to shreds.

“Sorry!” Nanashi calls out to them apologetically. He turns back to Derek quickly after that. “They need to know if you’re with me or not? The thinning of the realms won’t happen until daybreak and you’ll need to kill time so hey, why not accompany me to the New Year’s Festival?”

Accompany? Did the fox boy just ask him out on a date? On one hand, he could say no and be attacked by a bigger and hungrier demon with an acquired taste for werewolf children. It was hard to see your family again when you were dead. He could say yes and go on a date with a strange (but mysteriously cute) fox boy thing and go to a New Year’s festival full of demons. Choices, choices. The boy had to be friendly. Not _Raahhh! I crave for you flesh!_ sorta crazy.

But he was a _fox_. He remembers his mother cursing foxes, saying they were nothing but a bunch of thieves and tricksters and parasites who would betray you the first chance they got.

“Well?” Nanashi broke him out of his thoughts, smiling brightly that made Derek’s heart skip a beat. “What’s it going to be? My date to New Year’s or possibly eaten by the next demon coming by?”

“I’ll come,” Derek accepted his offer. “But you are going to promise a few things first, _Nanashi_ ,” he hisses, using fox boy’s given name. Nanashi had the audacity to smirk. “One: You will _not_ trick me. I know foxes –” _You’ve just heard of them. This is the first fox you’re meeting, Hale_ “–and you guys aren’t known to be completely honest and loyal.”

“Completely understandable.”

“Two,” Derek continues sharply. “You will take me _home_. I want to see my family again. Okay? My family is my pack and they are everything to me and I would rather _die_ than ever, _ever_ lose them.”

The fox rolls his eyes.

“And three: I will not get eaten or … you get what I mean. If I come like this, I leave like this. Do you understand, fox?”

“Yes, yes, I promise. Quite pushy aren’t you? Don’t worry, it’s gonna be fun!” Nanashi cheers enthusiastically. He gazes up to the red lions taking guard and hollers, “Okay! Sorry for the wait! Werewolf here is my date to New Year’s! _Please_ open the gates!”

There is another loud growl from the lions and an eagle-styled slick and complicated Japanese characters appear boldly on the paper of the sliding doors, glowing golden contrasting the masterful black strokes of the paintings. They part and Derek is thrown back by what he sees.

Monsters of all kinds –the type adults would describe in their books and the type you would envision in your closet or under your bed –were everywhere, acting like booze-driven humans on a party high. There were stalls everywhere advertising drinks, wares or fun games. The buildings were styled like traditional Japanese buildings and Japan was definitely a theme here! It was like something leapt out of an old samurai movie. Overhead were red lanterns lighting every street and Derek spotted a few flying demons in the air. It was a cacophony of noise and Derek couldn’t even hear himself think.

It was a nightmarish version and fairy tale-like festival coming to life right before Derek’s eyes.

“Well?” Nanashi says next to him, adjusting his fox mask to the side of his head and threading his hands with Derek and pulling him into the crowd. “Come on!”

As soon as he’s in the crowd, he nearly loses his grip on Nanashi but thank God for werewolf abilities, his hand tightens around Nanashi’s. Nanashi sends a quick reassuring smirk to Derek – _it has to be one of the sexiest things he’s ever seen_ –and pulls him to the side, avoiding the majority of the throng of monsters. They all speak in tongues that Derek can’t decipher or recognise and internally, he’s having a spaz attack.

It smells. If it’s one thing other than the quirky (but mostly horrific) things he’s seeing at the moment that is bothering him, it has to be the smell. The floral scent of cherry blossom and alcohol –Nanashi’s scent –does a pretty good job of masking the stench of sulphur, brimstone, rotten egg and carcasses, however Derek’s werewolf senses proves too sharp for their own good.

_Again._  

There are a few eyes set on him and Nanashi. They’re just thankfully passing and uncaring. Perhaps they think it’s weird for a fox and a wolf to be on a date with each other during a Spirit Realm’s New Year’s Festival … Just thinking _that_ is beyond weird.

There’s a fight breaking out on the street. Nanashi tugs them into an alley. It’s low key and dark and Nanashi is scaling up a wall like an expert thief. The ledge of an orange tiled roof is not too far up and he reaches it easily. He looks down on Derek from the ledge, grinning madly.

“Wait?” he said impatiently. “What are you waiting for? A royal invitation? Climb your furry hide up here!”

Derek grunts and climbs up to meet Nanashi. He wasn’t much of a climber –that was for sure from how his grip kept slipping –even with werewolf claws, and from how Nanashi kept jeering at him. Finally, the fox got tired and hauled him by the collar of his jacket with a loud groan. The fox fell back on the brick wall.

“What the hell do you weigh, Wolfie?” The fox hisses. “A billion pounds?”

“Oh, shut up, you damn fox!” He’s always been a bit on the heavy and muscular side. Nanashi rolls his eyes and gestures for Derek to follow him. Nanashi is able to stand up easily but Derek has to crawl and it’s degrading. They have a clear view of the festival. There are glowing lights –“Don’t follow them. Ever,” Nanashi tells him sharply –in the air and down below, there are fights breaking out.

The brawl they saw earlier has turned into a riot of sorts, more and more demons joining in. They’re all smiling and laughing like mad men –or monsters… Whatever the term is.

“Why …” Derek trails off.

Nanashi smirks. “A few times a year, demons of all kinds gather in places like these and reconnect with old friends. On some occasions, it’s for business but thank Nurarihyon he decided that New Year’s was strictly for fun and partying.”

“Who’s Nurarihyon?” Derek asks, and snippily. There’s a stupid, ridiculous expression on Nanashi’s face that he doesn’t like –at all.

Nanashi sighs dreamily. “You see, the Spirit Realm is organized like a human mafia. You’ve got your _okamis_ , _kitsunes_ , _tengu_ , _ōni_ , there is quite a lot of us divided into clans. We’re all connected to the noble House of Nura and Nurarihyon is the big boss. He’s pretty powerful and scary and he’s what all monsters aspire to be.”

“What the hell are you then? A werefox?” Derek snaps.

Nanashi’s eyes flash silver and glow like a feral werewolf and fangs are visible in his toothy smirk. A pair of fox ears pops up on his hair and about at least _three_ fluffy tails appears on his backside.

“I’m a kitsune … the werefoxes are descended from my kind, little wolf.” Derek gulps and realizes that this boy is more powerful than he appears to be. “Or at least half. My father was human.”

“Who’s your dad?” The words slip without Derek meaning to.

Nanashi’s finger grace the underside of Derek’s chin and tilts his head up. “You should be careful with what you ask. In this world, words are stronger than _force_.”

His eyes. Silver. Not brown. Silver and powerful. This is a Japanese monster in front of him and he’s just a variant of a beast. He wonders how old he is. He couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen. Derek snaps out of his daze and he slaps Nanashi’s hand away, growling and glowering at the fox.

“But it seems to work for you, Wolfie,” Nanashi says teasingly.

“PREPARE TO FREEZE, FOX!” A girl screams. Nanashi seizes Derek by the collar –Derek thinks he has a thing for his collar – and jumps _twelve_ feet in the air, landing on yet another ledge. Where they were previously sitting in close proximity was a sheet of ice frosting over the roof.

Ice?

“I forgot to also mention usually how demons greet each other is to attack them just to, you know, see if they got better or rusty,” Nanashi informs Derek. Nanashi has his eyes trained ahead of him, a smirk but his eyes are narrowed and it is not friendly. Not at all.

Nanashi is watching a young girl –no more than ten –in a white kimono. Her hair is sleek and silky ebony black let down reaching her waist and her pupils are circled around each other, a mad sparkling blue. In her hand is a snowball that she is ready to throw at them.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The girl didn’t sound like she was sorry. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your kiss, kitsune!”

Nanashi snaps his fingers and a fireball created out of thin air is in his hand. “Oh, eat fire Yuki-Onna!” And he lobs the fireball at her. Her snowball meets Nanashi’s fireball in mid-air, causing an explosion of fire and ice –

And just as the fox boy reaches for Derek’s collar, Derek turns the table and picks up Nanashi bridal style and with every ounce of strength he could muster, he leaps off the roof. The fox whoops excitedly in his hold and prepares to make another fireball in his hand. The fox doesn’t even warn Yuki-Onna, he just throws when she’s not expecting it and it burns through her kimono sleeves. She growls in outrage, screaming obscenities at them and promising to turn them an animal-sicle when she got the chance.

Derek lands in the middle of a fight, on the back of some warty old troll. The fox and the wolf fall on the ground, trampled if not for the nifty fire wall Nanashi casted around them. Nanashi is focused and his dark hair is lightening in shade, slowly becoming brighter and brighter to silver. Nanashi drags Derek up.

While the fire is still around them, he says, “Get ready for a fight, Wolfie. These demons will want a piece of us. Especially something as rare as a _kitsune_.”

“Really?” In a mob of demons that were likely to tear him limb from limb, Derek had to admit something: he was crazy. A perfectly sane person would have shown fear or something to the current situation. But Derek thought he wasn’t sane. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he howled, letting his wolf side come through.

He’s always had to hold back, even with his pack. He was still a teenager and his wolf side would have gone wild. He was in a place where ‘wild’ was an everyday thing. Derek let it go and let his inner wolf come out, more than it ever had been.

A large black wolf stood in Derek’s place. At his age and ability, he should not have been able to completely wolf out. There was something in this place that strengthened his werewolf powers, amplified his abilities and made him _strong_. Nanashi laughs wickedly and lets down the fire swirling around them.

First was a troll swinging its bat at Derek. He swiftly dodges it and uses it to climb up, pouncing on the butt-ugly troll. He forces the troll to ground, clawing a hand across the troll’s cheek. The force of hitting ground must have knocked him out because the thing was asleep and snoring louder than Derek ever did (and other notable members of his family). Derek moves onto the next target and the next and the next.

They weren’t angry or anything. They were throwing fists and whatever crazy body part they had for the hell of it. This wasn’t a war; this was just everybody getting to know everyone.

For most, though. They were a few that really had it in for him and Nanashi –the sort of _I-will-kill-you-and-eat-your-guts_ way.

And what Nanashi doing? He had his fox mask over his face and using his small figure to his advantage, dodging attacks, throwing fireballs and punches that were slightly too strong for his scrawny figure and laughing wickedly. Derek and Nanashi were the main targets and everybody was after the fox and the wolf.

Adrenaline could only fuel the werewolf for so long though. Derek begins to falter in strength, not too noticeably but Nanashi saw it. He saves his ass by another one of his fireballs going into the face of some lizard-like demon and stays by his back to protect him. It’s a nice thing to know that somebody has your back.

“Getting tired, mutt?” teases Nanashi who is sweating and has pulled the sleeves of his Japanese garb. His hands are red from how much fox fire –or _kitsunebi_ from how Nanashi screamed “EAT MY _KITSUNEBI_!” at one point of the brawl –and he’s pale.

Derek growls back, saying “Hell no” and “Are you?” at once. Fox boy laughs heartily and drives his bare foot –did Derek mention the boy had no shoes? –into the face of an _yōkai_.

“Well, well, well …” drawls someone dropping in between Nanashi and Derek. A hand grips in his fur –hard, very, very _hard_ and _sharp_ –and he is lifted into the air. The air whistles in his ear as he yelps helplessly. The monsters are getting smaller and more distant as whoever is dragging him through the air carries them to some unknown part of the festival.

The next thing he knows he’s roughly thrown to the ground and there’s cheering and laughter and the stench of alcohol. Nanashi besides him coughs weakly and curses in another language – _“Kono yarou!”_ –and there is the retort of _“Miru anata no shita!”_

Derek shifts back into human form. His clothes aren’t there so he’s butt naked. Strange cat-like women who resemble geishas come forwards, draping a coat around his shoulder to cover his indecency. 

Derek drops his jaw at who he thinks is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen in his life. Her straw golden hair fell in well-organized bangs around her face, illuminating coy emerald green slitted eyes and framing her face perfectly. Her blue butterfly patterned kimono fell around her shoulders and exposed her flawless and ample bosom. There were nine fox tails behind her. She was another _kitsune_ , like Nanashi.

“I thought I would never see the day! A _kitsune_ on a date with a _garou_! My, how ever did you manage that little Nanashi-kun …?”

Nanashi huffs unhappily beside Derek. “D – _Wolfie_ , this is the clan leader of the _Kitsune_ Clan, Tomoya-sama,” Nanashi introduces her quickly to Derek. He shifts his mask to the side of his head, projecting the irritation on his face to Tomoya. “Give me a heads up next you do that, Tomoya-sama! How would you like it if you were randomly picked up in a middle of a fight?!”

She chuckled, taking an embroidered fan out of her long sleeves and flapping it in front of her face. Her eyes spell no good. “I would rip out their eyes and step on it,” she tells him. Derek doesn’t know if she’s kidding or not. He hopes it’s the former. Her gaze settles on Derek. “Nice _garou_ you picked up, Nanashi-kun. You two will definitely break hearts when you both grow up. Such a shame you’re bound to the Spirit Realm though Nanashi-kun …”

There’s a threating rumble emitting from Nanashi’s throat and he’s glowering at Tomoya. She smiles as though Nanashi looking like he’s ready to kill is the most adorable thing in the world. In a pack, nobody would so brazenly glare at an Alpha like that. She’s a blur for one second and she’s crouching in front of Nanashi, fondly stroking his hair. Nanashi gives up glaring at her and sighs. He closes his eyes, coming to a formal bow in front of her.

“I would like to apologize for my earlier behaviour, Tomoya-sama,” he apologizes gracefully. Poor guy. He has to politely grovel to seek forgiveness. “This is Wolfie –No, I am not giving you his name –and he was accidentally transported to our world via a doorway that must have been open because of the walls between realms. It will not happen until sunrise. For now, he is accompanying me to the festival.”

“It’s not a date,” grits Derek without thinking. Tomoya’s eyes sets on Derek. A shiver crawls up his spine. “M-milady.”

She smiles. It makes his heart race. “I hold judgement over that, Wolfie-san,” she chuckles delightfully. “I’m glad my unnamed fox is not alone on this holiday. No one should be alone on New Year’s in my opinion. I bet you miss your family, young _garou_.”

Derek presses his mouth into a firm line. He doesn’t have to answer that. He’s aware that Nanashi rubbing his hand down his back and he smells of cherry blossoms and alcohol and that Derek tries to focus more on Nanashi to ease his worries.

“Do not worry. Nanashi-kun is capable of getting you home,” assures Tomoya. “If I have to, I call my _yogiri-guruma_ to take you home.” What the hell is _yogiri …_ yeah … Half the names here, Derek can’t pronounce because it is so damn complicated like it always is with the Japanese. No racism intended. “Our _nekomata_ hostesses will return shortly with replacement clothing for our _garou_ friend here. Don’t worry. The _modern_ –” she almost spits the word out “–clothing that humans wear. Thank god, they finally made it a law not to skin animals for fur jackets anymore. In the meantime, why don’t you acquaint your friend with the wonders of sake, Nanashi-kun?”

“Sure, why the hell not!” accepts Nanashi with a beaming smile.

“Watch. Your. Language!” Tomoya hisses and Nanashi scurries away with Derek before she could punish the fox.

_Yōkai_ had gathered inside a single room, decorated extravagantly for the occasion with banners and splashes of colour everywhere. They sat around a long rectangle wooden table on the floor, served food and drinks by the cat women geishas from earlier – _nekomata,_ Derek guessed –and exchanged stories very, very loudly. It reminds Derek of Thanksgiving and brings a painful pang through his chest.

He misses his family.

“Wolfie,” Nanashi snaps him away from his thoughts, ushering him to a place at the end of the table. “Over here.” Nanashi sits on the floor, straight on his legs. Derek raises an eyebrow. “Yes, on the floor. And give anyone your name, you’re dead and I won’t be able to return a dead _garou_ to his family.”

Derek growls. It doesn’t faze Nanashi at all. He sits beside Nanshi, pulling the robe close around him. None of the demons pay attention that Derek is naked under the robe. They probably are themselves.

The nekomata brings a clear see-through liquid drink in a wide-brimmed jade cup and a suspicous meal consisting of boiled seaweed, fish cakes, mashed potatoes, some sort of root and soybeans. It smelt good but the look was putting off Derek a bit.

“ _OSECHI!_ ” cheers Nanashi happilly. He had a matching dish in front of him. “ _Itakimasu_! Derek, thank the nice _nekomata_ for the food.”

“Um, thanks.”  He lifts up the two sticks next to the dish and eyes them. Chopsticks? How the hell is he supposed to use them? He picks at the food, trying to use the chopsticks. It would be greatly if he didn’t keep dropping them. “Stupid piece of –”

“And Tomya-sama tells me to watch _my_ language,” snorts Nanshi. “Here.” His hands are over Derek, showing him the right way to hold the sticks. Derek’s cheeks burn. They (Nanshi’s is still holding Derek’s hand) pick up a piece of the fish cake and bring it to his mouth. It was surprisingly good.

“Wow,” is all he says.

“I know.” Nanashi nods. “I know. But you might wanna protect your food cuz –Give back my food, you bloody snake!” It’s self-explanatory.  This isn’t like his family’s Thanksgiving. It is his family’s Thanksgiving.

Nanshi engages in a chopstick battle with another _yōkai_ ; a young boy with wet neon blue whitish hair, pale scaly skin and ice blue lizard eyes, wearing a white yukata. They’re friends. Or at least they seem so to Derek. They fight like brothers.

“Nice _garou_ , Nanashi-kun …” the snake boy says. “I wonder how you scored a _gaijin_ as your boyfriend.”

“I’m not his boyfriend,” Derek replies immediately with a stern glare which the snake boy laughs to. “Who the hell are you anyway?”

“Oh, me?” The snake boy tilts his head to side. “You know asking names here is dangerous. I’m Yuzuki. I’m a _shirohebi_ , a snake _yōkai_. What about you? How do you know our unnamed fox here?”

“I’m …” Derek racks his mind for a name. “Sasuke Uchida …” _Naruto, Derek? NARUTO?_ A part of his brain argues that everybody here had Japanese names and he felt completely out of place and that Sasuke Uchida was a perfectly fine name. Nanashi laughs. Does he know Naruto?

“Nice fake name. Where did you get it?” Yuzuki asks, placing something in his mouth.

“It’s, err, from an anime,” Derek admits. “There’s a channel on TV that plays Naruto every morning right before I go to school.”

“Sounds interesting.” Yuzuki leans in close to Derek. He has an ethereal beauty like Nanshi and Tomoya. Most of the monsters aren’t even humanoid and the ones that are; they are so beautiful that Derek now sees that it is a total lie. In Yuzuki’s cold, calculated gaze, that beauty is used to trap and kill people. Internally, Derek’s squirms under Yuzuki’s eyes. “How about you tell more about it?”

“How about Derek tries a cup of sake?” butts in Nanashi in time, holding up his cup of alcohol. He shoots a glare to Yuzuki that sends the snake recoiling away from Derek. Nanashi’s protecting him. For now. But how long until he kills Derek? He drains the cup like its water and shouts, _“Kanpai!”_

_“KANPAI!”_ Everybody at the table chorused back, holding up their cup and taking a drink.

“Um …” Derek picks up the cup. It’s alcohol. He shouldn’t drink it. His mom would kill him. But what his mom doesn’t know won’t kill her. He likes the thought of that. He takes a sip and coughs. Instantly his head is light. “Whoa …”

“Talk about lightweight, Wolfie,” laughs Nanshi, patting Derek’s back. “But …” his eyes meet Yuzuki’s, both glinting in mischief. “You can’t leave _anything_ unfinished! Drink it!” Nanashi seizes the cup and forces the liquid down Derek’s throat. He chokes at first but soon he drinks it. Once it’s all finished, Nanashi removes it thankfully away and Derek is allowed to breathe. It was sickly sweet and odd. It doesn’t taste like normal alcohol. Not that he would know.

“God,” coughs Derek, banging his chest with his hand. “Oh dear God, what the hell is that stuff?!”

“That, my friend,” says Yuzuki, “is sake. It’s fermented rice wine and who needs bourbon or whiskey when you have good ol’ sake! I take it that it’s your first drink?”

“Yes.”

“Ohhhhhhh, Icchhhiiigooo-chan!” Yuzuki hollers jovially. The sound of his snake-ish voice irritates Derek and he wants to punch him so much. His head is foggy and he can’t think straight. He’s too aware of how close Nanashi is next to him and how he smells. Its cherry blossoms and sake. “Get us more sake! Our friend here is becoming a man!”

“No!” hisses Derek quickly. “No … noo … more … sake … ssshiit …” he slurs. He props his elbow on the table to hold his spinning head. “I thinksss I’m drunk.”

“After one drink?” Nanshi blinks incredulously at Derek. Alcohol. Bad idea. No more. “Wow, Wolfie … that is … that is just so pathetic, man. I’ve been drinking this for a while but the effects haven’t settled in. Since this is your first drink and this is _ayakashi_ brand rice wine, this must have the normal effects of alcohol on humans and –”

“Nanashi,” Derek interrupts the fox. “Shut. _Up_.”

Nanashi shares a look with Yuzuki that Derek translates as _this-guy-sucks-at-drinking-and-manners-but-I-hang-out-with-him-anyway_. Derek doesn’t drink anymore but Nanashi does his best to help him sober up. Even goes as far as to enchant a drink and tells him to drink it. The drink Nanashi’s gives him is sweet and helps the fogginess in his head clear up. Yuzuki and Nanashi are engaged in some discussion in Japanese and they laugh and they talk so casually that Derek burns with some dark feeling inside him. How did the fox and the snake get so chummy?

Derek is grateful for the food. It’s really, really nice. But it’s nothing compared to his mom’s steak. What would happen if he never went home? What if he never saw his family again? What if –

“Hey,” Nanashi calls out in a comforting voice. It’s like he can read Derek’s mind. “Hey, Wolfie, you’ll see them again. I promise you. No, Yuzu-kun, don’t you _dare_ say anything! Now, the _nekomata_ have come with your clothes. Get up.”

“Still drunk,” Derek mutters. “And I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Nanashi-kun, get the _garou_ out of here. He’s doesn’t belong here,” Yuzuki tells Nanshi coldly with a strange expression on his face. It’s distant and far-off. “Not in our world. The sun comes up in four hours. You should spend some time at the festival games. Plus I don’t want the mutt’s vomit over my nice yukata.”

“Sure thing. C’mon, Wolfie. Upsie-daisy!” Nanashi throws Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helps him up. Derek could stand –mostly –though he preferred Nanashi’s assistance. Sake and cherry blossoms. Derek was beginning to like the smell.

**~*~*~*~*~**

Derek changes in a separate room. They were identical to the clothes he came into the Spirit Realm with. The _nekomata_ offered to help him change but the thought of two cat women in a foreign world naked was terrifying to him. Not to mention mortifying. Derek changed alone because Nanashi had scamped off earlier when two _nekomata_ dragged him away.

When Derek emerges out of the room, Nanashi was waiting outside, leaning on the wall for him. He had changed clothes. There was a black loose-fitting coat-like garment with bright flame accents reaching from his sleeves and hems covering him. Underneath, he had a marron coloured _yukata_ that had orange and red flames patterns around the collar and sleeves on. He was wearing white socks and sandals. He still keeps the battered fox mask on his head though. He seems like a different person, like a divine being.

Derek was a bit conflicted about his sexuality at this point of time.

“I feel … ridiculous,” says Nanashi, blushing. He studied his sandals. “I feel like an awkward boy on his first date. All this was Tomoya-sama’s doing. Bloody –better not. She would definitely hear me. I look horrible, don’t I?”

Derek walked towards Nanashi and leans in close, their forehead touching. He had an incredible urge to mark him right there. He instead went for kissing Nanashi’s dark hair. Which was just as good.

“You look …” What was he supposed to say here? “You look normal.”

The blush was gone from Nanashi’s cheeks and joined Derek in disbelief. Normal? That was what he could say? NORMAL? He was the hottest thing he had seen yet in his life.

“Considering you’re wearing the _exact_ same clothes as earlier, I’d say you look normal as well,” Nanashi compliments him. It wasn’t much of a compliment. He however returns the gesture of Derek’s cheek. Except it’s on his cheek. _Reeaally_ close to his lips. Derek’s heart beats like a jackhammer. “Thank the Gods that we’re not going to be involved in another brawl. There are really some fun games that the New Year’s Festival offers.”

“I dunno. The fighting was fun.”

“Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. The only time those monsters take a break from their riot is during sunrise when the New Year’s sun finally arrives and then do you what they do? They go back to fighting. And fighting. And fighting. And fighting. Oh and guess what? More _fighting_ ,” Nanashi deadpans at Derek. “That goes for a whole _month_. It’s the truth. I swear.”

Derek liked the fighting but he wouldn’t want to keep fighting for that long. Nanashi takes him by the hand and leads him out of the establishment. His feelings of not belonging aren’t there anymore – _He doesn’t belong here,_ he recalls Yuzuki saying. _Not in our world_ –and he focuses only on Nanashi. They spill onto a not so crowded street. Nanashi tells him a joke involving a _ōni,_ a _tengu_ and an _onmyōji_ which Derek finds himself laughing along to. They weave through the streets, keeping to themselves contained inside their own bubble full of conversation and stories.

On one occasion, Derek opens up about his family. “You think we would have the normal American eggs and bacon for dinner but my family is pretty weird. Sometimes we have pancakes and other times chocolate cake and once we had turkey for breakfast. We don’t say anything about it because if Mom one day serves up lobster or chocolate cake we are more than completely fine about that.”

“Your family sounds like a handful, Wolfie!” chuckles Nanashi. “Oh, look! Games! Come on!”

They stop in front of a shrivelled up _yōkai_ advertising a seemingly normal throw the ball on the target stall. The demon reminds him of the _onibaba_ in an elderly lady way. Derek is certain he’ll never be comfortable with old ladies _ever_ again.

“Hello there!” chirps Nanashi cheerily. “So if we hit the target, what do we get?”

The old lady holds up a rotting disembodied head that has flies flying around it. Derek thinks he’s about to throw out what’s left of the sake in his system.

“Maybe we should somewhere else …” Derek drags an unhappy Nanashi away as if he’s used to the sight of decapitated heads every day. He probably is. He looks around for something werewolf-friendly and possibly offering saner rewards other than rotting heads and sees a weird game at the end of the stall. “How about there?!”

The stall is set up like whack-a-mole and Derek smiles. He is the master at this. He asks permission from Nanashi who laughs, saying that doesn’t need to, and pays the owner from a pouch he kept up his sleeve ( _“Tomoya may or may not have given me my New Year’s money_ ,” Nanashi tells him in a conspiring whisper). When Derek plays, he finds out he’s actually whacking actual moles and he wants to stop because of animal cruelty however Nanashi tells him that that moles weren’t real and made from magic.

Derek wins a jade green _magatama_ necklace that had cool curved fangs beaded through a thick black string. It looks really cool and Laura would so get jealous.

Nanashi and Derek play more games that has a supernatural twist to them. He misses his family less and less and his mind and body felt lighter than they had been for a long time. He remembers the shocked face Nanashi made when a piranha had bitten his hand during a piranha-catching game and laughs so hard that Nanashi swears to get him back –hard. Derek pouts afterwards because he is covered in cat hair and he hates cats and the only way he could get them all off was by getting soaked in copious amounts of water. Nanashi helps him dries off later in an alley by using his fox fire.

It’s just the two of them huddled up in the darkness, the fox fire flaming around them, not burning Derek and offering actual heat.

“Hey, can all kit – kitsu – can any of your kind can do that? You know, the fire?” Derek asks.

“As a kitsune, being able to use fire is a part of their natural and divine abilities. Lightning, as well. It takes centuries to be able to fully manipulate it. Tomoya-sama says I can be stronger than most kitsune because –” Nanashi pauses. “I’m just stronger than most. I have three tails and no kitsune received three tails in the amount of time I have.”

“Oh yeah, Tomo – Tomoya-sama, is that how you say it?” Nanashi nods. “She has nine tails. Does that mean something?”

“Hells yeah! Tomoya-sama is the oldest, most cunning and wisest kitsune to ever live!” Nanshi lights up. His fox ears flops up adorably. “And that makes her clan leader of course! Though there aren’t a lot of us _kitsunes_. We’re very rare nowadays. It’s difficult to earn our tails. We all have one tail at birth but as we get stronger we get more. Nine is the limit however.”

“Wow,” Derek breaths.

Nanashi smiles lopsidedly. “I know.” Derek is all dry now thanks to Nanashi’s Extra Fast Fire Drying Service, free of charge. They go back to the festival and have fun all over again. He wishes this could last forever. This moment of serenity and peace. He wonders if Nanashi feels the same way.

From the way they hold hands, maybe he does.

“Would you like a mask, young _garou_?” someone speaks to them from the side. It’s some sort of human-racoon hybrid, a grey-furred muscular man with dark spots of black under his eyes and razor sharp teeth and claws. Around him is a whole arrangement of masks of all kinds: contorted faces of agony, simply horrifying steel masks, you name every nightmare you ever had, he had it.

Derek is about to say ‘no’ when Nanashi beats him to the chase. “I would like the black and red _okami_ mask over there for my companion, Tanuki-san,” he informs him, pointing to a mask. The racoon man pulls it off the hanger, handing it to Nanashi. In exchange, Nanashi pays the fee for the mask. Nanashi thanks him in Japanese and the fox and the wolf stroll away from the stall.

“Here,” Nanashi says, holding the sleekly designed mask to Derek. Derek takes it and examines it. It was painted black with red streaks around the long snout, eyes and forehead along with white engraving on the ears. It has to be one of the coolest things he’s ever been given. Forget making Laura jealous, he’s gonna make her beg.

Derek smiles widely. Nanashi has given him a gift–a gift from the Spirit World. He guesses they really are on a date. Of course, part of his masculinity feels insulted. And of course he has to give something in return.  

“Thanks, Nanashi. Here, take this.” Derek takes off his acquired _magatama_ necklace and gives it to Nanashi. The fox is taken aback and soon grins, accepting the necklace and hugging Derek in the middle of the street. Derek squeezes back and inhales his scent. Sake and cherry blossoms. His new favourite.

Derek puts on the mask, they walk around a bit around the festival, trying out more food and games and fun ensues. This night is all his and Nanashi’s. Derek would be freaked about going on a date with a total stranger but it’s like he’s known Nanashi his whole life.

When they fireworks come out, colouring the night sky, they are perched on a rooftop, watching it all. Their hands are overlapped and Derek has grown accustomed to it. They do this for an hour or so and it’s timeless. It fills Derek’s chest with a warm sensation he’s not used to. Of course, it had to end soon.  

“Hey,” says Derek curiously when they’re strolling down the street. “All Japanese names mean something. What does yours mean?”

Nanashi smiles, crookedly, and there’s something broken in his overall expression, like he’s hurt and Derek doesn’t at all like that. “It means ‘no name’, Derek.”

“What?”

“You heard me. _No. Name_. When I first came to the Spirit Realm, I just sort of … forgot my name. I picked up the Japanese around here and when somebody asked me my name, I’d always ‘no name’ in Japanese. Of course, you can’t give your real name around these parts and therefore you have to use a fake name for security so … the name, Nanashi, no name, just stuck,” he explains. “That’s why Tomoya-sama and Yuzuki-kun called me their unnamed fox back in the inn. I think my old name started with a ‘S’ or so.”

That’s when it occurs to Derek. He barely knows Nanashi. He can trust him. He knows that Nanashi is there for him. But he doesn’t even know his _real_ name. He doesn’t how old he is or what’s his favourite colour or what he liked to ear. Nanashi couldn’t even remember his own name. He could be as old as he wants and look any way he wants. Ageless and dangerous.

“Hey, Nanashi,” calls out Derek softly. The sad look is gone from Nanashi’s face and is replaced by his casual smirk. “Why are you doing this? I mean, helping me. It’s not like we’re friends or anything.”

“We’re not?” Nanashi feigned pain at that, clutching his chest and wiping away a false tear. “Oh, you wound me, Wolfie! After all we’ve been through you haven’t deigned me your _friend_. Don’t you remember how we drank together –”

“You force-chugged me the sake, you damn fox!” Derek barks.

“–Or how we fought together back-to-back against an army of _yōkai_!” Nanashi fake sobs.

“If you don’t stop, I will rip out your throat,” Derek threatens him. “With my teeth.”

Nanashi sneers at him and promptly lights a fireball in his hand. “Really?” he drawls. “Rip my throat out with your teeth? Woooow, I’m soooo scared. Somebody help me! Mr Big Bad _Garou_ here is going to rip my throat out with his teeth. Heeellp! Oh wait, look, I have a fireball.”

“You’re annoying as Hell,” Derek admonishes him. “Has anyone ever told you that, you damn fox?”

“Something among those lines.”

The fox and wolf are locked in a staring contest. Then they both dissolve into fits of giggles. They both fall against the wall and use it steady them while they laughed like lunatics. Nanashi’s side is pressed against Derek and he can hear his slightly racing heartbeat in his chest.

Derek wonders if Nanashi could come with him, back to his world, where they both could be friends with each other … possibly more. He’s knows it’s preposterous. Mom would go into a rage if she ever found out he had a crush on a _fox_ , kitsune no less. It doesn’t matter so much if it’s a guy. His mom loves everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. He could see now, walking to school together, spending sucky classes, studying, laughing, goofing off, getting assigned detention, kis –

“FIFTEEN MINUTES TILL SUNRISE!” an _yōkai_ screeches at the top of its lungs and Derek is dragged away from his daydreams. Nanashi looks as though a bucket of cold water had been splashed over him.

“Fifteen minutes?” the fox echoes stricken. He gazes up to the sky. The pitch black darkness was becoming streaked with pink and orange and all other warm colours. Sunrise was fast coming. Time must have went by so fast. Derek thought he wasn’t ready to leave. Leave Nanashi that is. His expression was far-away now and his eyes were glazed over. He looked to Derek. Nanashi reminded him of a wounded animal at that moment. Derek felt like said wounded animal at the moment. Nanashi promptly hid his face with his mask.

Derek is reminded of his family all of a sudden and the great need to be reunited with him hits him hard.

“Nanashi?” Derek says his name quietly. “Nanashi, I want to go home.”

Under his mask, Derek senses that Nanashi smiles bitterly. “I will keep my promise then, Wolfie.” He grips Derek’s hand then so hard that it could almost break. “Now let’s run like Hell!”

They push through the crowds, trying to reach the gates Derek stood earlier in the night. There were much more monsters than earlier, seeming to fill the streets that the two had resorted to race through the shady and dirty alleys. Derek had no idea where he supposed to head. He has to trust Nanashi to guide him through safely. A wolf trusting a fox? That was unheard of. But as soon as Nanashi looks back, mask still on, grey eyes flashing, Derek realized something: _I think …_ he thought rapidly in his mind through the blurring scene of the Japanese background, _I think I might be in love with him …_

“Getting tired, Wolfie?” Nanashi mocks him.

Derek’s cheeks go red and he is thankful his mask hides the blush. “Are you, you damn fox?!”

Nanashi whoops out in laughter. The sky brightens –dangerously for Derek. It’s only a few minutes until sunrise comes and anxiety bites at him. What if he wasn’t able to go back to Beacon Hills? What if he was stuck here? Somehow Nanashi noticed this and squeezed harder on Derek’s hand. They break away from the gaudy streets and dash towards the great gates.

There’s a problem right away. There is a herd of monsters awaiting them at the gates and their predatory eyes are set on both Derek and Nanashi. There’s a few Derek recognises. There’s the troll who he slashed its cheek with his wolf claws at the street brawl, the blue-skinned giant Nanashi set fires to its loincloths and private regions, the crazy old lady with the kitchen knife.

“Seriously?” Nanashi says in disbelief. He clearly understands why they are all there. “Are you friggin’ kidding _me_?!  You want your pitiful revenge _now_ of all times?!”

The _onibaba_ –she still looks insane –snarls at them viciously. “We will not be put down by two smart-snouted _monoke_ who thinks they are big shots! I came to the New Year’s Festival to feed on children!”

“Yes, and I wasn’t to be the appetizer of your meal, you sick old lady!” Derek shouts back, letting his wolf come through.

Nanashi’s hands turns into claws and his hair is suddenly silvery white. There is a dark aura swirling around Nanashi that has Derek instantly worried. “Get _out_ of _our way_ ,” Nanashi warns them coldly. “This is your _only_ warning.”

“Or what?!” taunts the troll who Derek clawed loudly. Ugh, they _all stink!_ They all reek of alcohol and rotting corpses and other things Derek doesn’t want to name. Alcohol is fuelling their need for revenge. “You’ll make us.”

“Oh, don’t forget about me!” Beside Derek, Yuzuki the white snake _yōkai_ drops in, a feral smirk curled on his lips, eyes burning in cold ice. Water swirled around him, taking the form of a formidable twenty-foot white snake that Derek thought was only possible in manga and anime that coiled around the _shirohebi_ protectively.

Nanashi mirthlessly laughs. “How nice of you to join the party, Yuzuki,” Nanashi drawls. “I’m guessing you got bored with the party?”

Yuzuki cringes. “Everybody started playing these outrageous games which were just horrifying to see! And I wouldn’t want your _dark side_ to come out,” he says. Nanashi growls at the snake. “It’s ten minutes till sun-up. It would inconvenient for Mr Wolf here to be stuck in our world. Imagine how the _gaijin_ would fit in. Oh wait, _gaijins_ aren’t supposed to fit in here.”

“Are we going to yap all morning or are we going to do something about the monsters blocking my way home?!” snaps Derek impatiently.

Yuzuki sneers distastefully at Derek. He whispers something Derek can’t make out in Japanese to his water snake and the second Yuzuki gives his orders, it lunges out at the _yōkai_ , throwing them into chaos.

At the same time, Nanashi hollers out, “OPEN THE GATES!”

There is a resounding roar from above and the sliding doors are pushed away from each other, revealing the cherry blossom path behind it. Yuzuki’s snake wipes out a majority of the demons and Nanashi and Derek takes the chance to run right through the chaos. Yuzuki follows behind them, controlling the water in the air, clearing their escape route.

Yuzuki fails to notice the large bat of a troll swinging at him but Derek comes to the rescue, pulling by his yukata and dragging him before the bat could hit him. Yuzuki is shocked –at first –and breaks out into a wide grin. Nanashi reacts, fire blazing in his hand. They quickly solidified, becoming blazing hot kunai knives in between his fingers. Nanashi threw the fire knives, implanting them in the troll’s head and within three seconds, the troll was grilled brutally until there was nothing left but a crisp.

Yuzuki whistled, impressed. “Look who learnt a new trick!”

Nanashi huffed, running a hand through his hair. “I just learnt that on the spot! I think I’m close to getting another tail. Derek, behind you!”

Derek whips around him just in time to drive his claws against a weird-looking one-eyed demon and kicked him back with his werewolf strength. Nanashi took a hold of Derek and they both raced to the gates, fighting their way through the mob. Derek sent a fleeting glance back to Yuzuki.

The snake eyes met him in a cool and friendly gaze. He was surrounded by bigger and badder _yōkai_ all around him, water protectively defending him against them. Yuzuki was covering their way out. Yuzuki waves goodbye to Derek and turns his back, facing off against a revenge-filled mob of _ayakashi_.

“Hurry!” Nanashi urges him while they sprint through the wood, retracing Derek’s steps to the shrine.

“I’m hurrying!” Derek retorts snappishly.

Derek is tried and his movements are soon becoming sluggish and lazy. He’s been exerting too much energy tonight. He wants to go to sleep right now. Nanashi smartly wakes Derek up by sharpening his claws and digging them into his skin. Derek yelps and glares at the fox. The fox smirks back playfully.

The rushing of water is near and he sees the Japanese antique red bridge in the distance. Derek runs even faster and soon he is the one dragging Nanashi. Nanashi halts all of a sudden when they are only five steps away from the bridge. Derek is crazy to go back home and is filled with agitation and anger at why Nanashi stopped.

“Hey,” growls Derek huffily. “Why did you stop?!”

Nanashi takes off his mask and sighs. The sad look on his face pains Derek for some reason.

“I can’t,” he says. “I can’t cross the bridge.”

“Why not?!” Derek demands.

Nanashi bites his lip nervously. “I’m bound to the Spirit Realm,” he explains. “A long, long time ago, Tomoya-sama cursed me to live in within the boundaries of the Spirit Realm as punishment for something I did. Your place is in the human realm with your family, mine is here with my clan and the _monoke_ of the Spirit Realm.”

The dream of being with Nanashi in his world shatters right away like a mirror being smashed. Nanashi crosses his arms and looks anywhere but Derek. Derek is silent, not saying a word. Nothing could be heard but the sounds of their heavy breathing mixing together.

“Why did you save me?” Derek asks again for the second time that night before he could help it. “I mean you saved me from that crazy old lady and well you guided me through the New Year’s Festival full of monsters and you promised to take me home, without asking anything in return. Why did you do all of that?”

Nanashi’s lips part, suprised. He’s thoughtful for a while, far-off and distant. Nanashi comes back to earth when he smiles. It’s a genuine and tender grin that has Derek’s heart skipping a beat. The fox takes a single step to Derek and pushes Derek’s wolf mask up. _Wait –_ Derek thinks. _What?_ Nanashi’s hands are hot when they go around either side of the wolf’s head, pulling him downwards.

Nanashi’s lips are on his and all thought is gone from Derek’s head.

It’s warm and chaste and tender and all the things Derek thought his first kiss would be like. Just not who he thought he would share it with. Derek slips out an embarrassing noise that Laura would tease him for. Derek tries to kiss back using his tongue but it’s sloppy and untrained. He feels the trace of Nanashi smirking against his lips.

Damn fox.

Derek decides to tug Nanashi closer, wrapping his around the fox’s waist and deepening the romantic contact shared between them. Nanashi’s arms go around his neck and he is on his tippy-toes to meet Derek’s height. Nanashi lets out a moan that has his blood rushing around him. Nanashi’s tastes of sake and addictive sweetness that makes Derek want more. Derek’s heart is racing and he is so warm. There were fireworks exploding Derek’s mind. Who knew a kiss could make you feel like this?

Nanashi and Derek broke apart at last, gasping for air.

“That was …” Nanashi mumbles under his breath. “That was better than most kisses.”

“Errr …” Derek couldn’t say anything or think for that matter. He just had his first kiss. From a fox. Who he had a crush on –possibly in love with as well. “The sun.”

The sun was beginning to peak out of the horizon ominously so. Nanashi freezes and blushes, sighing. His arms went around Derek for a moment. Derek returns the gesture, inhaling the fox’s intoxicating cherry blossom and sake scent and cherishing it.

He didn’t want to go. Not just yet.

“Take the bridge and go inside the shrine before it’s too late for you,” whispers Nanashi in his ear. “Once you return to your world, whatever you do, do _not look back_. I don’t care how you feel or how curious you are, you will not under any circumstances look back.”

“What happens if I do?” Derek nuzzled his nose into Nanashi’s neck.

“You’ll get sent back to this world. Only permanently,” Nanashi tells him.

“You can’t come with me?”

“I already told you. I _can’t_. Tomoya-sama cursed me. This is my punishment.” Nanashi pushes Derek off him towards the bridge.

“Now get the Hell out of here if you ever want to see your family again!” Nanashi barks forcefully. His hands are clenched at his sides and his now brown eyes are red-rimmed. “Derek, get away from here!”

Derek winces and listens to Nanashi’s command. Derek stumbles at first running to the bridge and quickly regains his balance, sprinting over it and racing to the shrine. Derek doesn’t look back as much as he wants to. The Shinto shrine is just as he remembers it: clean and old and with a Japanese air around it.  He throws open the temple door and jumps inside it. He shuts the door behind him and slides onto the floor, defeated and tired.

He sits there for a while, all by himself. He removes his wolf mask and holds it in his hands. Other than the clothes he wore, this was all he brought back from the Spirit Realm. Nanashi and he were separated now, on two different worlds where the walls were strengthened and would not weaken for a long time.

_What did he do?_ Derek thinks. _What did he do to get trapped in the Spirit Realm?_

The air shifts around and Derek knows he’s back in his world. Slowly, like a lifeless corpse, he gets up and leaves the shrine. He keeps his eyes trained in front of him. He walks across the stone court yard and down the stone stairs through the orange and red gates. The familiar scent of his pack his pack washes over him.

Derek doesn’t look back. Instead, he breaks out running, mask in hand, trying to find his way back. He is able to retrace his steps easily through the woods. He knows he passed that tree, went down this path, took a right … He doesn’t even have to think. His legs are just carrying him back _home_.

A part of his mind was still there: the place where … the fox boy was. What was his name again? Nao? Takashi? Nana? For some reason, Derek can’t seem to find his name and he doesn’t care for it. Where did he even go?

He takes in his surroundings but doesn’t turn back. What was he doing in the forest? Derek’s confusion soon takes to the possibility that he might have wolfed out last night. However he has no signs of recent wolfing out on him. He still had his clothes on, intact and reeking of fermented alcohol. Derek found a strange mask in his hand. It was a sort of Japanese black and red wolf mask that was really cool. Derek doesn’t remember ever getting this.

In the distance, he sees his house and is overwhelmed by the need to see his family. Within seconds, he’s on the front porch and banging his fist on the door loudly.

It’s his mom who opens the door and unhappily. Her face is flushed and there are lines on her forehead caused by stress. Derek instantly relaxes in relief. He doesn’t know why but he’s just so happy to see her in front of him.

“Derek?” Mom says warily, eying him up and down. Her nose crinkles in distaste and she gags. “Have you been drinking, young man? Where have you been all night?! You took off without saying anything! You worried us sick!”

Derek stands in silence, not saying anything. Tears burns at his eyes. She’s right there and inside should be Laura and Dad along with Cora and Peter and the rest of the Hales. His family.

He’s home.

_“Mom,”_ he chokes out and throws his arms around her to wrap her in a tight, suffocating hug. He breathes her in. She smells of chocolate and spices from all her time in the kitchen. Not the reeking scent of alcohol that envelops him. Not the smell of flowers. He buries his face in her chest and starts to cry.

Startled and unsure of what to make of this, his mother hugs Derek back. She strokes his hair and whispers much needed reassurances in his ears.

“Happy New Year, Derek,” she says.

“Yeah,” he replies. “Happy New Year.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, yeah. That's right. I took away Derek's memories. Trust me, it was a very hard decision on my part. Stiles has a different name (Nanashi) and I apologize for any confusion.   
> ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ Romances between the Human and Spirit Realm never work out. 
> 
> Comment?


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